


K-I-S-S-I-N-G

by 35_leukothea



Series: They Never Really Leave Us [2]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: DeanCas - Freeform, Destiel - Freeform, F/M, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-03
Updated: 2014-04-03
Packaged: 2018-01-17 22:20:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1404580
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/35_leukothea/pseuds/35_leukothea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cas asks Dean about simple human things, but somehow, simple questions very rarely have simple answers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	K-I-S-S-I-N-G

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Zainab](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zainab/gifts).



> This, for me, was something new. When I write third person, I usually use past tense--actually, I usually use past tense regardless of what I'm writing, unless I am writing in second person, in which case I always use present tense. Third person present is something I have not done before, but I feel that my more artistic pieces of writing that I've started doing recently, like vignettes, flow better in present tense, while the ones that are more of narrative stories are better in past tense.  
> The title refers to the children's playground rhyme, by the way. If it were to use Dean and Castiel's names, it would go, "Dean and Castiel, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G. First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes Baby in a baby carriage."  
> Also, for the sake of story, Jess is alive and Sam leads a normal-ish life or something like that, I dunno, they're not that important.  
> Please tell me what you think!

"Dean!"

The hunter starts violently and knocks over his beer bottle. "Christ, Cas!" he exclaims, jumping up to avoid getting spilled on and knocking his chair over too. "Do you really have to do that?"

"Sorry," says Castiel, clearly not very sorry. He barely glances at mess he's caused by popping up in Dean's face. He probably just assumes Dean is used to it by now, and often forgets that two in the morning is not an appropriate time for a house call. He looks excited, and despite loving the adorable enthusiasm in his eyes, Dean can only think,  _oh, God, here we go_ as he mops up his drink. He hopes the library will accept their documents back even if they're beer-stained. "Deaaan," Cas persists, sounding almost whiny.

"Caaas," retorts Dean in the same tone, but more dryly.

Castiel either doesn't understand or just doesn't notice the sardonicism—indeed, he rarely does. So much humor goes over the angel's head that that in itself has become the joke. "Tell me about kissing."

Dean does the pause-and-blink expression he uses when he's confused, then slowly turns around. "What?" he asks incredulously.

"Kissing," Cas repeats eagerly.

For another moment, Dean is speechless, staring at his angel with his mouth slightly open. "I...you already know about kissing? I mean, I just—" He stops for a second, then shakes his head as if ridding his ears of water and rubs his eyes. _I'm too tired for this._  "Cas,  _what_ are you even talking about? Do you know what time it is?"

Cas sits down on Dean's bed and kicks off his shoes. "I visited people today," he announces, sounding proud of himself for attempting to socialize.

Dean sighs, then goes and wrings the towel he used to clean the table out over the sink and washes his hands. "Lovely," he says patiently, then sits back down, glancing wearily at the library documents. He is very tired. "What of it?"

"Sam kissed Jess."

"Sam does that."

"I went to the park," Cas adds, a bit randomly.

"Why?"

"To look at the b—"

Dean cuts him off with a wave of his hand.  _Should've guessed._ "Are you gonna start making sense soon? Because I am about to fall asleep."

Cas frowns at him. "Are you tired?"

Dean exhales sharply. "Cas, if you don't get to the point of this visit in five seconds I swear I will kick your feathery ass to high hea—"

"Okay, okay!" he interrupts quickly, looking slightly hurt. "I just wanted to know why people kiss each other."

"What kind of a question even is that?" Dean mutters. "You know why people kiss each other."

"But it means different things sometimes!" Cas protests.

Dean rolls his cramped shoulders, then stands up to stretch a bit more, only half-listening. "What do you mean?"

"Well, I am no expert"—Dean snorts—"but it seems to mean something different when a mother kisses her child than when Sam kisses Jess." 

Cas follows Dean with his eyes a bit too closely as the hunter begins to change into clothes to sleep in. "That's because their relationships are different," Dean explains tolerantly, pulling his necklace out from under his shirt, then turns off the ceiling light and switches on his bedside lamp. Its dim yellow glow catches the color of Castiel's eyes for a split-second as he turns, and suddenly Dean is engulfed in their brilliant blue, losing his train of thought and stopping in his movements.

Cas blinks, and the connection in broken. "Dean?"

"What? Oh, I was just..." He trails off, then shakes his head again. "As I was saying, their relationships don't mean the same thing. They're both  _love_ , but there are lots of types of that, too. You can love your friend just as much as you love your sibling or your spouse, but it's a different sort of love for each."

"What's the difference?" Cas wants to know, curious nearly to the point of annoying. Nearly, but not quite. 

 _He's still cute_ , Dean reminds himself grudgingly. "Hell, Cas, you can't just go and ask me stuff like that, that's like asking the meaning of life," he says. He lies on his bed and yanks his angel down to have him lean back on him. "Are you still wondering about kissing? That correlates a bit. Friends don't kiss each other, since that's a pretty intimate gesture. Dunno if you noticed, but parents really only kiss their kids on their foreheads or cheeks when they're little or whatever. Jess kisses Sam on the lips because he is her boyfriend."

"Does that make me your boyfriend?" Cas asks seriously.

Dean awkwardly laughs a little bit, slightly amused but mostly mortified. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure it does," he says. "So I can kiss you on the mouth"—he pauses to do so—"and anywhere else you let me."

"Oh." Cas fidgets a bit to rest his head more comfortably in the crook of Dean's shoulder.

Dean presses his lips to the top of his head, then turns off the lamp. After a few seconds of lying in the darkness, Castiel wonders, "Do bees kiss?"

"Oh my  _God_ , Cas," Dean mutters, and the angel laughs as if that is the response he'd been hoping for. "Go the fuck to sleep."

"Angels don't sleep."

There is a short pause. "Now I feel weird."

"I can pretend."

"Are you still wearing your trenchcoat?"

"I like the trenchcoat."

"Go to sleep."

"Okay, okay. Good night."

"Actually, I think it's morning now."

"Dean, you can't tell me to go to sleep and then keep talking."

"Bite me."

"I don't think that would be advisable."

" _Go to bed_ _, Cas._ "

"Sorry."

Dean sighs and shakes his head. "Sleep tight," he whispers into his angel's unruly dark hair, then adds a bit reluctantly, as if it nearly pains him to admit such a thing aloud, "Love you."

But for someone or something that doesn't sleep, Castiel is pretty good at pretending, because he does not respond.


End file.
